Tributes to an 'inspiring' outsider

Tributes were paid yesterday to the artist Tony O'Malley who was described as one of the most important Irish painters of the 20th century and a giant of the visual arts.

O'Malley died at his home in Callan, Co Kilkenny, yesterday morning, having suffered from failing health for some months. He was born in Callan on September 25th, 1913.

The President, Mrs McAleese, expressed her sadness at his death and extended her condolences to his wife, the artist Jane O'Malley.

The Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, said he deeply regretted the death of one of the most important Irish artists of the 20th century. "Tony O'Malley was one of the giants of the visual arts in Ireland for well over 50 years, and his contribution to the richness of painting and the important role of the artist in Irish society was immense," the Minister said.

"He will be remembered for the remarkable body of work arising out of time spent in St Ives in Cornwall, Switzerland, the Bahamas, and, of course, inspired by the landscape of Ireland. His death is a great loss to the artistic community and to Irish society. Ní bheidh a leithéad arís ann," Mr O'Donoghue said.

Mr Patrick Murphy, chairman of the Arts Council, described O'Malley as one of the most important Irish painters of the 20th century and one of the giants of Irish painting of his time.

"He was very, very important. He was a poet of the countryside. He had the special gift and created the poetry of the Irish people and countryside in line and colour," he said.

O'Malley had been a dear friend of his for many years. When he was a bank clerk in New Ross in the 1950s, he drove around Wexford and painted many country scenes.

"He started on a small scale to begin with. He was self-taught and a born artist. He even drew on his ledgers and bank books," Mr Murphy said.

He described his friend as a shy man but one who loved the company of his friends.

He played the melodeon and sang and was fond of a few glasses of whiskey.

"I never heard him speak ill of anyone. He was shy but a charming, highly intelligent man."

Mr Murphy said O'Malley was the great outsider of Irish painting. He did not go to Dublin or to art school.

"He was an outsider of the Irish schools. He was very hard-working and adored art," he said.

Ms Vera Ryan, lecturer in art history at the Crawford College of Art and Design, Cork, said she rated O'Malley's figurative work from the mid-1950s to early 1960s very highly.

"But I think it's in the brooding, atmospheric dark work from the 1960s that he really finds his idiom. They really are superb works. He is the great Irish artist of nature-based abstraction of the 20th century," Ms Ryan said.

O'Malley was such an extraordinarily inspiring and beautiful person who was cultured, warm and well-informed. "As a personality, we will all miss him," Ms Ryan said. Mr Patrick Taylor of the Taylor Galleries, Dublin, said he and his brother, John, were very proud to have been associated with O'Malley for more than 20 years.

The first time they had held a one-man exhibition of his work was in 1982, and he had shown with them regularly since then, as had his devoted wife, Jane.

Mr Taylor said O'Malley's exhibitions always drew exceptionally large crowds, which was evidence of the great personal affection the public had for him as well as their admiration for him as an artist. "Tony was an extremely important figure in the Irish art world. He was also a wise man with a wonderful sense of humour.

"Always a great storyteller, he was the best of company and had a great capacity for friendship," he said.

O'Malley and his wife had always shown great personal kindness to John and to him and their families.

"We are deeply saddened at his passing and will miss his warmth and his sense of humour," Mr Taylor said.